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Graduate garners Huntington Award to improve maternal health in Ethiopia
Northeastern’s Blen Yohannes received a 2026 Samuel Huntington Public Service Award to help improve maternal health in Ethiopia.
Random: Nintendo's New Yoshi Game Contains A Galactic Easter Egg
Warning: Spoilers lie within
Notable Standouts and Disappointments in the Sabres’ Playoff Run
The Buffalo Sabres’ season came to an abrupt end when Alex Newhook scored the Game 7 overtime goal to bring the Montreal Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Finals. Buffalo’s season is over, but it was a year of triumph and memories that will stick with the Sabrehood. In the playoffs, some players stood out, while […] The post Notable Standouts and Disappointments in the Sabres’ Playoff Run appeared first on The Lead.
Nobody better represents Israeli politics today than Itamar Ben-Gvir
He may be the most brazen of the nation’s leaders, but his ideological spirit is found throughout its government, and beyond, says Ben Reiff, deputy editor of +972 magazine
The NAACP’s boycott call is a wake-up moment for the American Black athlete
In a country where their rights are being attacked from all sides, it’s time for Black college athletes to utilize their power
Ebola treatment center in Congo set on fire as fear and anger over disease's spread grow
People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo as fear and anger grow over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to contain.
Disaster recovery should not be complicated by politics
Housing recovery needs certainty and speed. The first weeks and months after a disaster determine whether a community can recover.
UN’s climate crisis vote shows political momentum is growing, say experts
Resolution backed by 141 states hailed as ‘new chapter’ that could improve climate diplomacy and litigation efforts
Microsoft's AI reboot reshapes Satya Nadella's leadership team
Microsoft is reshaping its leadership for the AI era as CEO Satya Nadella pushes flatter teams, faster decision-making, and AI-focused executives.
Citi to boost Asia wealth business with 'significant' hires, global head says
Citigroup plans to allocate a significant portion of its global wealth management hiring to Asia, where its private bank is growing faster and generating higher productivity than in other regions, the bank's global wealth head Andy Sieg said.
Lancaster County public sales: May 22, 2026
Martin & Rutt Auctioneers LLC, of New Holland, conducted a public auction of real estate May 12 for Keith B. Roberts at 807 Pleasure Road, Lancaster. A one-bedroom cottage and
Something coming: what scientists know about a potential 'super' El Nino
Forecasters say a potentially "super" El Niño is rapidly taking shape in the Pacific—but whether it evolves into a history-making event could hinge on fickle winds and other volatile atmospheric shifts.
Trump’s new ‘slush fund’ for his pals
This week, Donald Trump dropped a personal $10bn lawsuit he had against the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for a so-called anti-weaponisation fund. The $1.8bn fund will be used to compensate those who think they have been unfairly investigated by the government in the past. Jonathan Freedland speaks to the legal analyst Kristy Greenberg about why critics are calling this fund ‘corruption on steroids’
Sports quiz of the week: Arsenal, French Open, Ronda Rousey and Aaron Rai
Have you been following the big stories in football, tennis, boxing, golf, rugby union and MMA?
“Rust Never Sleeps” – Canadiens 6, Hurricanes 2
The Carolina Hurricanes dropped their first 2026 postseason game in grand fashion by a score of 6-2 to the Montreal Canadiens. With the loss, they fall behind 1-0 after game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Canes had a record 11 day break between games and many wondered if that pause would cause some […]
The game\'s afoot as armchair detectives mark Sherlock Holmes Day
From 221B Baker Street in central London to a cliffside waterfall in the Swiss Alps, generations of armchair detectives are celebrating International Sherlock Holmes Day. Fans on Friday honored Sir
Ashmita Chaliha in Malaysia Masters quarters; Federation Cup athletics begins: Indian Sports LIVE, May 22
Here are all the updates from Indian sports on May 22, 2026.
Something coming: what scientists know about a potential 'super' El Nino
Forecasters say a potentially "super" El Nino is rapidly taking shape in the Pacific -- but whether it evolves into a history-making event could hinge on fickle winds and other volatile atmospheric sh...
Eastern Iowa woman sentenced for stealing more than $500K from veteran-owned business
A Springville woman was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in federal prison for stealing more than $500,000 from a veteran-owned small business in Marion.
Ancient asteroid craters may have sparked Earth’s oxygen-producing life
A hidden crater in South Korea may hold clues to one of the biggest turning points in Earth’s history: the rise of oxygen. Scientists discovered fossil-like stromatolites — layered structures built by ancient microbes — inside the Hapcheon impact crater, suggesting that asteroid strikes may have created warm, mineral-rich lakes where early oxygen-producing life could flourish.
Exclusive | IMAX Is Exploring a Sale
The high-end movie screen company’s search for a buyer comes as premium theatrical experiences are growing faster than the overall box office.
Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences awards top students - News
The Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine recognized Masters of Science in Biomedical Sciences graduates who received academic awards… More on this post
BACS Holds Science Fair
62 young scientists came from around Eastern Oregon and Southeast Washington to Baker Adventist Christian School, so they could share ideas and learn from each other.
Lancaster Country Day School senior wins Chemistry competition at prestigious international science fair
Lancaster Country Day School senior wins Chemistry competition at prestigious international science fair
A Lancaster County Day senior won top honors at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, AZ, the school announced Thursday. Kienle, who has spent his junior and senior years at the ...
Hulu Releases Trailer for Hannah Berner Special 'None of My Business'
The comedian and podcaster debuts her second hour on June 5.
Big science and uncanny prescience: Laurie Anderson’s greatest songs
Forty years since her pioneering concert film Home of the Brave, and ahead of a European tour, we count down the best of a surprisingly poppy avant garde catalogue
One Nation says it’s the only party in Australia to question climate science. It should ask itself why
Climate change denial has become untenable yet Hanson’s party digs in – with conspiracy theories, cherrypicking and claims that are easy to refute
Poll: Who Wins Eastern Conference Final, Hurricanes or Canadiens?
After the Vegas Golden Knights upset the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night to take a 1-0 lead in the NHL’s Western Conference final, Thursday night brings us Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. The Montreal Canadiens begin the best-of-seven series at the Carolina Hurricanes (8 p.m. ET, TNT/Tru/HBO Max). The No. 3 seed Canadiens got here when Alex Newhook scored an overtime goal Tuesday night in Game 7 of Montreal’s second-round series with the Buffalo Sabres.
What the Indy 500 Reveals About the Future of Live Sports
Darden professor Anthony Palomba discusses he economics behind the Indy 500’s resurgence, what broadcasters are learning about Gen Z audiences and why live sports remain one of television’s most valuable assets.
US is ‘simply choosing not to stop’ Ebola outbreak after massive public health cuts, experts say
Hundreds of cases reported in the DRC after USAID has been dismantled and key scientific research canceled
‘We’ve Never Been This Bad.’ Eastern Pennsylvania Weighs Its Rising Costs
With two swing districts, the region from Scranton to Allentown could decide control of the House, and voters are expressing profound economic distress.
Ebola case sparks stricter health checks in Goma
Residents entering the eastern Congolese city of Goma from government-controlled areas were subjected to tighter health checks on Wednesday (May 20) as authorities sought to contain the spread of Ebola after one confirmed case was detected in the city, which remains under M23 occupation. Blanch Ancla has more.
Rachel Reeves tells foul-mouthed Reform UK heckler good manners matter
Chancellor wins support from Conservative Mel Stride, while Farage says he’d ‘like to buy man a pint’
Iran rebuilding military industrial base faster than expected, already producing drones, according to US intel
Iran has already restarted some of its drone production during the six-week ceasefire that began in early April, one sign it is rapidly rebuilding certain military capabilities degraded by US-Israeli strikes, according to two sources familiar with US intelligence assessments. Four sources told CNN that US intelligence indicates Iran’s military is reconstituting much faster than initially estimated.
Enhanced Games explained: sport’s most controversial event unpacked
Why are the Enhanced Games, taking place in Las Vegas this weekend, so contentious, and how have governing bodies have responded to the event?
UNESCO warns a tsunami in the Mediterranean is inevitable
The French Riviera may look like an unlikely place for a tsunami disaster, but scientists warn the threat is far more real than most people realize. Historical events and new modeling show that destructive waves have already struck the Mediterranean coast — and could hit again with very little warning. Some tsunami scenarios could reach beaches in under 10 minutes, leaving almost no time for traditional alerts.
ISL final day with 5 clubs vying for title, Indians in action at Malaysia Masters: Indian Sports LIVE, May 21
Here are all the updates from Indian sports on May 21, 2026.
SpaceX IPO filing reveals Elon Musk's space economy vision
SpaceX IPO filing reveals Elon Musk's vision for Mars factories, asteroid mining, and space tourism.
‘We’ve given them the short end of the stick’: Business school dean says AI could eliminate many jobs for young people—even as they lead innovation
Despite being innovation leaders, young workers face an AI transition that prioritizes "better, cheaper, faster" over breakthrough thinking, according to Professor Jeff DeGraff.
WHO urged to declare climate health emergency, and other climate and nature news
Top news: RCP8.5 misinformation; Forecasters warn of powerful El Niño; Early warning systems get G7 support.
Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight: 8 Easter Eggs We Found
It's not just Batman history TT Games is playing with
A Physical Warp Drive Was Supposed to Be Impossible. Then These Scientists Found a Loophole.
Scientists proposed a physical warp drive model that may avoid exotic negative energy in some cases, but faster-than-light travel remains far from buildable.
A Physical Warp Drive Was Supposed to Be Impossible. Then These Scientists Found a Loophole.
Humans are one (small) step closer to traveling at faster-than-light speeds.
Xbox expands leadership team with major hires
Xbox has added two big names to its leadership team: Matthew Ball and Scott Van Vliet. The new recruits are part of an on-going drive from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to move faster, build better products, and make more focused business decisions. The Game Business can reveal that Ball is joining as Chief Strategy Officer. He is a popular industry analyst who is responsible for the annual The State of Video Gaming report, which is widely read across the business. His first job will be to strengthen the console side of Xbox, which is facing significant pressures, not least from the rising costs of memory and storage. In an interview with The Game Business earlier in the year, he admitted he was “pretty frightened” by the situation for the console sector. Ball had previously worked as head of strategy and planning for Amazon Studios, and wrote the 2022 international best-seller The Metaverse. He is currently CEO of Epyllion, a venture partner at investment group Makers Fund and senior advisor at KKR & Co. Meanwhile, Scott Van Vliet joins as Chief Technology Officer. He was previously in charge of Azure OpenAI and AI Core infrastructure at Microsoft, and he also led engineering for Microsoft Teams during the COVID 19 pandemic. But he has a games background. He previously worked across games for Amazon, including Alexa, Amazon Game Studios and the Amazon App Store. He directly worked on the Minecraft: Fire TV Edition. Prior to that, he was VP of Digital Play at Mattel, and worked across brands such as Batman, Barbie, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Cut The Rope. His job will be to improve how Xbox builds products so teams can move faster and deliver stronger results. For more breaking stories, sign-up to The Game Business today Subscribe In addition to these new hires, Xbox has promoted Chris Schnakenberg to Corporate Vice President, Partnerships & Business Development. He was previously VP of partnerships and business development, and joined from Activision Blizzard, where he spent 12 years in various strategy, business development and partner relations role. His focus is on third-party games, publishers and developers working with Xbox. The news follows a number of new hires and promotions earlier in the month, including Jason Ronald taking leadership over Xbox’s upcoming Project Helix console. “These changes are about strengthening our foundation by creating more clarity and improving execution,” Sharma said in an email to staff. “As we head toward Showcase and beyond, we’ll continue making the changes needed to position XBOX for the future.” Matthew Ball is speaking with Christopher Dring at The Game Business Live on Monday, June 8. More details on the event can be found here.
Xbox expands leadership team with major hires
Xbox has added two big names to its leadership team: Matthew Ball and Scott Van Vliet. The new recruits are part of an on-going drive from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to move faster, build better products, and make more focused business decisions. The Game Business can reveal that Ball is joining as Chief Strategy Officer. He is a popular industry analyst who is responsible for the annual The State of Video Gaming report, which is widely read across the business. His first job will be to strengthen the console side of Xbox, which is facing significant pressures, not least from the rising costs of memory and storage. In an interview with The Game Business earlier in the year, he admitted he was “pretty frightened” by the situation for the console sector. Ball had previously worked as head of strategy and planning for Amazon Studios, and wrote the 2022 international best-seller The Metaverse. He is currently CEO of Epyllion, a venture partner at investment group Makers Fund and senior advisor at KKR & Co. Meanwhile, Scott Van Vliet joins as Chief Technology Officer. He was previously in charge of Azure OpenAI and AI Core infrastructure at Microsoft, and he also led engineering for Microsoft Teams during the COVID 19 pandemic. But he has a games background. He previously worked across games for Amazon, including Alexa, Amazon Game Studios and the Amazon App Store. He directly worked on the Minecraft: Fire TV Edition. Prior to that, he was VP of Digital Play at Mattel, and worked across brands such as Batman, Barbie, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Cut The Rope. His job will be to improve how Xbox builds products so teams can move faster and deliver stronger results. For more breaking stories, sign-up to The Game Business today Subscribe In addition to these new hires, Xbox has promoted Chris Schnakenberg to Corporate Vice President, Partnerships & Business Development. He was previously VP of partnerships and business development, and joined from Activision Blizzard, where he spent 12 years in various strategy, business development and partner relations role. His focus is on third-party games, publishers and developers working with Xbox. The news follows a number of new hires and promotions earlier in the month, including Jason Ronald taking leadership over Xbox’s upcoming Project Helix console. “These changes are about strengthening our foundation by creating more clarity and improving execution,” Sharma said in an email to staff. “As we head toward Showcase and beyond, we’ll continue making the changes needed to position XBOX for the future.” Matthew Ball is speaking with Christopher Dring at The Game Business Live on Monday, June 8. More details on the event can be found here.
Mars shines in ethereal photo from Psyche space probe
NASA's asteroid explorer is on a 2-billion-mile mission.
‘A Jackie Robinson moment’: Jeffries echoes NAACP calls for college sports boycott over voting rights
The top US House Democrat called out SEC schools for their silence in the wake of a supreme court decision that has severely weakened the Voting Rights Act
The Hypershell Exoskeleton Is Slimmer, Faster, and Still Not Built for Your Bad Knees
Hiking exoskeletons are now a thing, really.
‘The flavour crisis’: an exposé on the origins of broken Britain
Whether it’s the traditional boiled diet, a dental epidemic or white-winged extremism, Patrick Gathara explains why political turmoil is engulfing the UK
Stephen Colbert\'s long goodbye is coming to an end, leaving a void
Stephen Colbert's run on “The Late Show” ends Thursday, marking the conclusion of his on-air feud with President Donald Trump. Colbert began hosting in 2015 and often criticized Trump and
Inside the Texas Ranch Where Big-City Professionals Go to Get Dangerous
In an era of assassinations and political chaos, a rustic ranch an hour and a half southeast of Dallas offers a new way to prepare for disaster.
T-Mobile for Business Offers Internet Solutions Focused on Lower Costs and Faster Growth for SMBs, No Need to Overpay for Wireless Service
Save more and scale faster with T-Mobile for Business, backed by the Best Mobile Network in the US.
At least 80% responsibility for ill health in old age down to individual, says study
UK report argues people have greater control over longevity than widely understood, but others say claim is simplistic
Google expands AI push at I/O with enterprise-focused Gemini upgrades and smarter search tools
Alphabet Inc. ’s Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) on Tuesday introduced a range of new artificial intelligence tools at its annual I/O developer conference, including AI agents integrated directly into Search and a faster, lower-cost Gemini model aimed at enterprise customers.
Sharks are helping scientists improve weather forecasts
Forecasters already rely on satellites, buoys and hurricane hunter aircraft to monitor ocean conditions. Sharks, however, may offer a way to fill gaps in places where traditional tools are sparse or expensive.
Georgia mayor who fired town’s entire police force resigns, citing family ‘health concerns’
Ron Shinnick did not mention the firing of the Cohutta police force, which was later rehired, in resignation letter
7 free events in Lancaster County for Memorial Day weekend, from a concert to a car show
Staying in Lancaster County this weekend?
Knicks stun Cavaliers with 22-point comeback
The New York Knicks mount their biggest play-off comeback to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in game one of the NBA Eastern Conference finals.
Broadcasters too reliant on vox pop interviews and failing to challenge politicians, says study
Researchers also question whether UK’s impartiality rules allow for proper scrutiny in era of multiparty politics
‘Go forward with hope and courage’
Of the 373 students who graduated, 301 received MPH degrees and 72 received a Master of Science degree in public health. Included in that total were 13 joint
GOP voters overwhelmingly pick Woods over Lindemuth in the 98th District
Lancaster County Clerk of Courts Nicky Woods will move on to the November general election in the 98th House District after winning Tuesday’s Republican primary.
Google announces glasses are back and search is getting an AI makeover
At annual I/O conference, company debuts a product for everyday consumers to create autonomous AI agents
Materials scientist gains valuable research experience
The opportunities at the College of Engineering and Applied Science are what attracted Ananth Balasubramanian to the University of Cincinnati. He came to UC as a master's student and after two years, transitioned to a direct PhD program in materials science and engineering. Here, he works in the Digital Fabrication Laboratory and recently was named Graduate Student Engineer of the Month by CEAS.
Scientists use DNA from poop to save the world’s rarest marsupial
Scientists in Australia are using cutting-edge DNA techniques to help save one of the world’s rarest marsupials — the critically endangered Gilbert’s potoroo, with fewer than 150 left in the wild. By analyzing tiny traces of DNA in the animals’ scat, researchers uncovered clues about the elusive fungi the potoroos depend on for survival. The findings could help conservationists identify safer new habitats and establish backup populations before disasters like bushfires wipe them out.
Alleged unsafe conditions | Lancaster County woman suing Hershey Entertainment and Resorts
A Lancaster County woman is suing Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, claiming she was injured when a glass panel fell on her during a Hershey Bears game.
Phil Collins makes rare public appearance months after revealing devastating health issues
Phil Collins made a rare public appearance in London over the weekend with his ex-wife, Jill Collins, along with Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster. The former Genesis drummer will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November.
Business students navigate market ‘roller coaster’ to secure positive returns - News
Students in Money and Banking and Global Trade and Finance classes at the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business recently wrapped up… More on this post
Rubio criticizes WHO’s Ebola response as US continues sweeping public health cuts
US secretary of state says WHO was ‘a little late’ in identifying deadly Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda
NAACP urges boycott of college sports in south over voting rights
Eight southern states have moved to draw new maps after Callais decision, severely weakening the Voting Rights Act
Artificial eggshell comes first in attempt to revive giant flightless moa
De-extinction company hopes artificial incubation system can be scaled up but other scientists are sceptical
Trump endorses attorney general Ken Paxton in Texas Senate primary
US president calls Paxton an ‘America First Patriot’ and ‘MAGA Warrior’ ahead of runoff against John Cornyn
‘Foolish’ CSIRO job cuts will mean Australia unable to provide climate projections to global reports, scientists warn
Exclusive: Science agency is planning to sack a third of the team working on the national climate model, sources say
‘Many billionaires are not happy people’: Michelle Obama talks politics and going ‘a little low’ in first Australian event
Former first lady delivered veiled but sharp remarks on US politics during speaking tour that began in Melbourne
Microsoft reveals new business Surface devices with Intel and Qualcomm processors
Microsoft unveils Surface Pro/Laptop for Business with Intel Core Ultra Series 3 and upcoming Snapdragon X2 for faster on-device AI—see prices and...
Victor Wembanyama dominates OKC in 2OT thriller; Canadiens beat Sabres in Game 7 OT to reach ECF
Plus, we preview the NBA's Eastern Conference finals between the Knicks and Cavaliers
MEET THE SAILORS, FLY-BYS AND NON-STOP ENTERTAINMENT – WHAT NOT TO MISS IN CAGLIARI THIS WEEKEND
The first stop on the ‘Road to Naples’ for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup is happening this weekend in Sardinia, on the beautiful waters of the Bay of Angels sat before the bustling port city of Cagliari. Forecasters are predicting ‘champagne’ conditions for the eight teams contesting the Prelim Regatta, and if the sea-breeze comes in, we can expect a feast of top-class international foiling in the world’s most exciting fleet-racing class – the AC40.
SLU appoints College of Science and Technology dean
Southeastern Louisiana University has selected Mitchell Croatt as the dean of the College of Science and Technology.
'Leeds must seize this moment at all costs'
After a tremendous finish to the season, Daniel Farke has called for Leeds United to invest heavily this summer. Had Farke found the formula faster, Leeds would be challenging for Europe. With meaningful investment and using these tactics from the start of next season, United could realistically place much higher than their current position of 14th.
Why more US women are moving abroad: ‘there’s always a level of stress on your shoulders’
As many as 40% of young women say they want to migrate, citing better work life balance to Trump’s politics
Fall asleep faster using these science-backed tips
Experts offer tips to help you fall asleep faster at bedtime and get a better night’s rest.
Global warming is accelerating 5,000 times faster than rice can evolve
A new study finds that climate change is creating environments where humans have never successfully cultivated rice before.
International health experts meet in search for Ebola Bundibugyo vaccine options
A panel of experts led by the World Health Organization will meet on Tuesday to discuss if there are any vaccine options to help tackle a major Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Enhancing hospital discharge management around the world
For hospital discharge management, policy clarifies roles, operational teams plan ahead, and digital tools can make execution faster, safer and scalable.
UK unemployment unexpectedly rises to 5% as firms squeezed by Iran war
Pay growth eases to 3.4% as businesses face pressure from soaring energy costs
Fears of new China shock as EU industry’s reliance on imports grows
Rising volume of components imported from China prompts warning of cannibalisation of European industries
Australian medical college leader suspended from position over alleged health and safety breach
Dr Sharmila Chandran suspended until 20 September as Royal Australasian College of Physicians agrees to work with regulator to meet its obligations
Prominent PS5 Podcaster's Account Hacked, Social Engineering Concerns Amplified
Is nothing sacred?
How one Pocatello business is helping eastern Idaho save water, one lawn at a time
POCATELLO – Amid a water shortage and emergency drought in place across Idaho, a Pocatello business offers homeowners a way to water their lawn more efficiently and help conserve water. RELATED | Idaho declares drought emergency for all 44 counties as snowpack hits record lows Canopy Lawn Care, now in its second year of operation […]
Trump says he’s called off an attack on Iran to give talks more time
The president says he postponed a planned strike at the urging of Middle Eastern leaders.
Sen. Dave McCormick asks Pennsylvania to embrace AI during Harrisburg luncheon
HARRISBURG — U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick wants Pennsylvania at the forefront of the artificial intelligence boom happening across the United States.
Police: Throop man threatened to kill Sen. Flynn, business owner on social media
A 35-year-old Throop man posted messages on social media threatening to kill State Sen. Marty Flynn and local business owner Steve Masterson, police said.
Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry Both Whine About PGA Championship Setup
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry were both unhappy with the conditions at the 2026 PGA Championship. McIlroy, who has won back-to-back Masters championships, sounded off on the conditions at the Pennsylvania course over the weekend. "I think a bunched leaderboard like this, I think it's a sign of a ...
Apple Announces WWDC 2026 Schedule, Sends Media Invites
Apple today provided a schedule for its 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference, which starts on June 8 and ends on June 12. Apple also sent out invites to members of the media who have been invited to attend an in-person keynote viewing at Apple Park. Both the invites and schedule confirm that the keynote will begin at the standard time, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time or 1:00 p.m Eastern Time.
Additions to David Blunkett’s alternative king’s speech
Letters: Readers praise – and point to omissions from – the former home secretary’s proposed programme for government
Canada’s sports minister hopes World Cup can lead to trade agreement with US and Mexico
Adam van Koeverden has expressed confidence that hosting the World Cup could be the key to agreeing a new trilateral trade deal with the US and Mexico
Penn State Health to hold pediatric open house in Manheim Township Wednesday
Penn State Health Children’s Lancaster Pediatric Center is holding a pediatric open house Wednesday in honor of National Emergency Medical Services Week. The event, which is free and open to
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science
From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
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